Pumpkin Harvest - Part 1!

I posted about a week ago about the pumpkin vines taking over the front garden. Well, just before the official start of Autumn yesterday, they weather seemed to be getting a bit cooler (turned out that was just to lull us into complacency before the end of season heatwave the last two days!), I started to think of getting the autumn planting into the ground. Of course, that was next to impossible with the pumpkin vine crawling over everything. The ideal is to let your pumpkins stay on the vines until they die off, then harvest. This means the skins get nice and hard, and the pumpkins will keep for longer. However, a few questions lead to the fact that pumpkin vines may not, in fact, die off here in Brisbane, where we get no harsh winter weather or frosts. And certainly mine are showing no signs of slowing down!

So DH put on his gumboots and gloves, and braved the pumpkin vine jungle to see what he could find. All up, 9 mature and ripe pumpkins, and at least another half a dozen that need a few more weeks. Luckily I've found a space around the side of the house for the first autumn planting, so these can have a little longer. I mean, really, can you ever have to many pumpkins?

It's the Little Things

Some days, I feel like I'm not making much progress towards where I want to be. It's too hot to garden, too hard to cook. I'm sure we all have days like that. On these days, I find it important to remember that the steps towards simplicity and sustainability aren't always large. Sometimes, doing something small, can make a big difference.

This week, I knitted a small soap saver. DH likes something to scrub with in the shower, and when his last plastic scrubber wore out, I wasn't inclined to replace it with another plastic item. This simple knitted bag does the job, and hopefully means we can use the soap up to the last bit, meaning it will last longer, and we will waste less.


Speaking of soap, I also made a new batch of soap this week. Why is it that I always wait until we're using the last bar to make a new batch, even though this will take at least another week to cure? I wasn't sure how this lot would turn out, in fact I thought I had wrecked it at one point, but it looks like it will work after all. I used the same recipe as last time, only I added some honey as well. I'm not sure if it was the honey, or the fact that I oiled the moulds (the bottom of empty 3L milk bottles) with olive oil, but this soap is far more oily than the last lot. However, so long as it sets, and isn't caustic, we'll use it anyway! The extra oil will just help the soap be a little moisturising! It's all a learning experience.

Guest Blogger - Hidesy

Hi! I'm Rinelle's sister Hidesy :) Since I was taking a photo of all the toys I recently bought second hand Rinelle suggested that I do a guest post and show them off :) I went to about 4-5 different second hand shops around Brisbane, and found all of these. I had a budget of $50 to spend on toys (in theory our weekly budget for "stuff for Miranda (DD)" so I thought I'd see what I could get. I wanted quality stuff or I could have bought a lot more probably - but I didn't want things that were broken or pointless - I wanted things that could be interesting and would help her. Of course now I realise that I left Pinky out of the picture - a bit unforgivable as it's her favourite ;) It's a little pink stuffed Giraffe. So here's what I got for $48.50 in the end. It took a bit to get them all clean, but I think it was worth it :)

Ebay Bargain!

DH and I bought this old blue couch back when we were newly married, meaning it is 7 years old now! It's served us faithfully, and moved with us twice. Unfortunately, while it was a great size for two, now that there are three of us, it's getting very squishy.

So it was well and truly time for a new couch. DH and I fell in love with the couch with chaise style after using one at a holiday apartment we stayed in, but until we re-arranged our living room a few weeks ago, we just couldn't find out that would fit in the space we have. A few weeks ago, we decided to take the plunge and get rid of the TV.

No, we're not really TV less. We haven't had commercial TV for more than 12 months now, but we do still watch out selected DVD's. Which, of course, can be watched just as easily on our computer! Our 19 inch monitor was just a little too small though, so we now have a 27 inch. This saves lots of space, and power as well I would imagine, since we no longer run the old CRT screen TV or the DVD player.

Anyway, once that was done, the hunt was on for a new couch. We looked around all the furniture stores (online and in person), and found several (seems to be a popular style right now), but nearly all of them were synthetic, which is something I'm trying to avoid these days. Ikea had lovely lounges, and as a bonus, the covers are completely removable so that you can wash them. Seemed ideal. Except that on closer inspection, only the WHITE covers were actually machine washable, the others were all dry clean only. This was enough to put us off for a while, until I hit upon the concept of dying the covers!

We probably would have gone straight to Ikea to get one, except they had none in stock. (And, of course, Ikea is a 2 hour drive away!) Thus instead, I have been searching EBay daily (you can have new items matching your search criteria e-mailed to you daily), until last week I spotted the EXACT couch I wanted. Bidding was steep, but with dint of much refreshing and last minute bidding, I am now the proud owner of a genuine Ikea couch, at exactly half the retail price!

As you can see, it's in great condition, only 6 months old. The white cover has a few minor discolourations (much of which was probably due to DD jumping up and down on the cushions pretending they were islands), which will undoubtedly be covered when we dye them. Currently, it's covered in sheets, as the owners had dogs, which DH is mildly allergic to. Hopefully we'll get the covers washed and dyed next weekend.

I'm so glad that we managed to find exactly the couch we wanted, at such a great price, and much closer than Ikea! Buying second hand has many advantages, as well as being more eco friendly in that items are reused rather than being thrown out. (In case you're wondering, our old couch now lives up in the garage, for use when DH is up there working.)

Right now though, I'm off to research eco friendly dying!

Feburary - In the Garden

February, like December and January, has mostly just been too hot for gardening! The rain we've had in the last few weeks has meant that it's cooled down enough to get out there a little in the morning and evening, and most of that time has been spent pulling out the weeds that have been growing like, well, weeds. Luckily some of the plants have been growing likewise, without any attention from me. In fact, I'm surprised that we're actually starting to get a decent amount of food out of the block to supplement our diets. The chickens are back to laying 2-3 eggs a day, which is just enough for us for now. Hopefully there will be even more as the weather cools down though. Still, it has meant that we haven't had to buy a single egg since they started laying! That's been five months now!

The front garden has been taken over by volunteer pumpkin vines that I somehow missed pulling out. They sprout themselves from seeds in the compost, and being a small area, I tried to pull them out, but these took hold after it was too hot to do much. They've covered pretty much the entire area, smothering even the watermelons. They haven't been too good since the first half dozen though, either too ripe, not ripe enough or not enough water. We're still getting a few though, and being fresh and organic, I'd still rather eat them than store bought ones. Again, we haven't bought a watermelon since we harvested our first one!

My guess is that there are at least 20 or more JAP (short for Just A Pumpkin) pumpkins, some bigger than my head!

There's even some hanging from the vines that have climbed up the front fence! Looks like we will have heaps of pumpkins this year too. And they are so sweet! We've had two so far, and looking forward to lots more. Apparently JAP pumpkins only keep for 4-5 months, as they have a thinner skin than other varieties, but I'm sure these will be long gone by then! I'm hoping to keep them on the vines until they die off, as apparently they will keep longer this way. The vines are showing no signs of dying off yet though, still producing little pumpkins, so we'll have to see how that goes. It will be time to get the autumn/winter planting in the ground soon!

I cooked up the last of the frozen strawberries from our garden a week or so ago. Made a mere 4 bottles of jam! I also found several bags of cut up mango from a tray I bought last year, and since they still seemed good, I cooked them up for some mango jam/butter. Mmm, delicious! So sweet I can't eat more than a bite, but very very nice.

Hopefully the jam will see us through until the first harvest of rosella's, which shouldn't' be long now. These bushes down the side of the house are doing far better than the scraggly ones I had up the back last year. Should get lots of jam out of them! Best of all, DD will actually eat it (she normally only eats strawberry), because it is pink! You can see our small bamboo plant in this picture too, it's on the left, being smothered by the rosella's! But growing none the less. I wish I could say the same about the potatoes, that were in between these straw bales. I have no idea if it was the weather or what, but they just didn't do well. Still, I did get one meal out of one plot, so hopefully I'll get some more once I get to the rest of them. I have some of our own tiny potatoes that have sprouted now, so they'll be going in the ground (in a different area) soon. Hopefully they'll do better than this lot.

My latest planting of cotton is getting flowers and bolls. It's down the side of the house, just to the left of the bamboo and rosella's. Unfortunately, the neighbour's horses took a liking to some weeds growing there, and lent over the fence and ate them, along with some of the cotton plants! Not sure if I will be able to salvage much or not. The plants up in the garden that I planted last year have cotton bursting out of them, but since it has gotten wet, it's not very usable. (And I can't really get to it because of the weeds, oops.)

My passionfruit vine is finally taking off, and we're getting about half a dozen lovely yellow passionfruit a week. They are so sweet, not sour at all, unlike most of the passionfruit you buy. I was really surprised to find that these were the yellow passionfruit, as I thought the plant taking over the trellis was the purple one. (I planted one of each.) Hoping we get some purple ones eventually too.

Sadly, I was too busy with other things to harvest most of the corn that I went to such an effort to save after a nasty storm, but I left the plants standing, and a couple of days ago picked off all the ears and shucked the seeds off them. There were only about 5, so I was really surprised to get this many seeds! Plenty to plant next year! (And if I have leftovers, I'm sure the chickens would love them!

Hopefully there will be lots more garden posts coming up soon now that the weather is starting to cool. Getting all this produce from very little effort has really made me want to get out into the garden and get it producing again!

I will also have to post pics of my orchard, just as soon as we mow it. It's kind of hard to see the tress for the grass right now. Oops. But hopefully soon we might have a ride-on mower, which will make the job a LOT easier!

New Routines

Well, as a follow on from my Low-Tech Wednesday post yesterday, we've been slowly settling into a new routine. The house is slowly getting more organised, and thus quicker to clean (decluttering through one area at a time, currently working on the kitchen), so morning cleanup goes quite quickly. Then we intersperse the morning with schoolwork, more focused cleaning (like the decluttering), and, of course, playing. After lunch (usually either fresh cooked bread, or sandwiches/toast from yesterday's bread), DD will often settle in for an hour or two's TV or computer games, while I find a little time for catching up with my online communities or writing. Then depending on our mood, we play a little more, do some craft/sewing, or go out somewhere.

Yesterday, we made a simple fishing game. DD drew several fish on blank pieces of paper, and we cut them out and slid a paperclip onto the spot where their mouth would be.

Then with an old magnet off the fridge, we went 'fishing' for a while. DD loved it! She's always wanting to buy these sort of fishing games at the stores, but I think our home made one is much better! (Plus it gave her some drawing and cutting practice!) Once she tires of the plain fishing game, I'll write some numbers on each fish, and we can see who gets the highest score. (Great for maths practice, adding numbers.)

DD was watching a birthday party on one of her TV shows, so once it was over, she decided to wrap up some 'presents' for me. Lovely job I think. Especially the bow, perfect finishing touch.

And, of course, what rainy week is complete without an indoor cubby? DD did nearly all of this herself while I was in the other room hanging washing on the indoor line. She did call me out to help with a couple of pegs, but overall, I think it's a pretty spectacular construction.

And while I was in the kitchen cooking, DD decided to write out her own recipe. I helped her with spelling, and working out what the ingredients were, but all the writing is all hers. She did ask how to write a couple of letters, so I demonstrated on a separate piece of paper.

I'm starting to feel like we really are homeschooling, with all these activities going on. DD is learning things so quickly, and her attention is far more sustained than it was even a few weeks ago. I'm looking forward to more homeschooling posts as we slowly find our way into a routine that works for us.

Lessons Learned from Low-Tech Wednesday

Yes, I know it has been a couple of days, but things have been happening here. And it all started with Low-Tech Wednesday. Now as far as low-tech goes, it was a bit of a failure. It did make me realise though, all of the wonderful tech that I just don't want to live without. (I don't say can't live without, as I have done so quite successfully in my childhood!) I mean, hot and cold running water! Flushing toilets! (I just have to put those two first, because I am NEVER going back to not having them, LOL.) But we also continued to use our refrigerator, freezer, lights, car (to go the playgroup and ferry DH to and from the train station), washing machine, stove top, oven and the dishwasher. That is a LOT of technology, just in one day. It is amazing how reliant we become on it.

When we were in the shed, it was slightly easier to do without some of these things. For a start, we didn't have a dishwasher! On previous low-tech days, I've avoided putting on loads of washing, or using the oven, and we've done our dinner cooking outdoors on the barbeque, but given our household's tiredness (I'm pretty sure even DD is a little sleep deprived right now, or maybe she's just having one of those growth spurts), we went the easy route. The only things we turned off for the day, were the computers/TV.

But none the less, it made a HUGE impact on our day. I've never been one of those people who insisted that the TV was bad, and we should do without it. However, low-tech Wednesday made me realise that we've been coming to rely on the TV and computers just a little too much for our entertainment, and we were all suffering for it. DD has been much calmer, and much more likely to find games to entertain herself, with her TV time limited to about an hour a day.

I'll be back to post tomorrow about some of the fun things we've been doing!

Low-tech Wednesday Revived

Yes, it's been a long time since we've had a low-tech Wednesday, but given the amount of stress and tiredness in our house right now, I think it's time to revive this habit. We've been watching far too much TV, and spending far too much time on the internet, so I think a regular day without would not only give us some time away from these distractions, but get us back into the habit of considering alternatives to our electronic entertainers.

And before you point out that I'm here posting this online, I'm actually writing it on Tuesday, but scheduling it to post on Wednesday! Clever huh? I'll be back on Thursday to let you know how the day went!

Simple, whole foods

A lot of posts about simple living focus on food. How to grow it, how to prepare it. I mean, it's one of the most basic necessities, and one that I think has been most interfered with. Just about every product you look at on the supermarket shelves has been modified in some way, usually by the addition of many synthetic chemicals. Although probably many of these do no real harm, I don't think that the continued consumption of these can have any long term benifits.

I'm still working on the food around here. I have a house full of very picky eaters (me included!), and DH's gluten intolerance to take into consideration, so finding things that everyone will eat and enjoy is a challenge. We generally stick to very bland, plain meals, making it very easy to try to keep to whole, unprocessed foods.

This is how I started my day at 7:30am this morning. DD had a similar, but smaller plate. All of it fresh, from the markets, with the passionfruit being picked from our own vine yesterday afternoon. I went a bit overboard here, and wasn't sure if I could eat it all, but in the end I did. I find that getting this fruit in early in the day is the easiest way for me. I used to eat a lot of fruit, but since DD was born, I've found myself eating less and less, while encouraging her to eat more! Far better to practice what I preach, and eat it myself. However, I often find I'm too busy to stop and eat much during the day. Doing it first thing means that I don't forget.

Of course, while fruit is full off all those great vitamins and minearls, I find that even after a huge plate like that, I'm hungry again by about 9 or 10 (10 in this case!), so that's when I have some nice, hot, filling poridge, covered in wheat germ and brown sugar. (I do need to cut down on the sugar a little, I admit, I'm working on it.) That lasts me a lot of the rest of te day, and the chickens love eating the leftovers (because I always make too much, these days on purpose!)

So there you have it, a nice healthy breakfast, and delicious as well!

Financial Goals

Lately DH and I have been giving quite a lot of thought to our financial situation. I've written previously that our goal is for DH to be able to work part time, and hopefully retire very early, but so far aside from dreaming, we've made very little effort to achieve this goal.

I've been reading many blogs lately about people who have begun to make moves towards changing their situation. People who are working to pay off their mortgages, and live life the way they want to instead of being ruled by their debts, and they are inspiring. I think we can do it too. No, it won't happen tomorrow. In fact, it will be years away. But we certainly can't start any sooner.

Our first goal is to finish paying off our credit card. We hope to have this done by the end of March. Until it's paid off, we're going to continue with our Nothing New policy as much as we are able to. I'm mending our sheets yet again because I don't want to have to buy a new set. (And I refuse to buy cheap ones, I have a particular set in mind, and am waiting until we have the SPARE cash to afford them.) We're attempting to intersperse our normally meat heavy meals with cheaper ones, like the scrambled eggs we had tonight, (Can't get any cheaper than that, eggs laid by our own chooks, on toast cooked here at home), fried rice, and pasta. The increasing amount of produce we're getting from our own garden, as well as making everything we can at home (from materials we already have where possible!), helps as well. Really, there is very little we will need to buy over the next few months. (Except the previously mentioned bookshelves and new lounge if they are available, though in reality they aren't needs, but wants.)

Once the credit card is paid off, our next step is to build up an emergency fund of $1000. As any budgeting gurus will tell you, if you lack an emergency fund, you will simply rack up your credit card again when the unexpected happens. We now have a second mortgage offset account (off our construction loan), where the emergency fund will be separate from our day to day money, while still offsetting the interest on our mortgage. We hope to have this done by the end of June.

After the initial emergency fund is secure, we will increase our payments on the home loan by $100 a fortnight. Not much, and should be easy to do without many changes to our current budget, but from the few calculations I've done, it should reduce the repayments on our home loan nearly in half, and save us scads of interest! While we're doing this, we will continue to add any extra money, bonus payments etc, into the emergency fund until it's at about $5000. Hopefully we should achieve this by the end of the year.

Then, all going well, any extra money we get will go straight into the home loan. If we can pay off this one loan (the smaller, and at a higher interest rate), it will halve our repayments, and would allow DH to work part time if he chooses, or allow us to pay off the second loan (on the land) in half the time.

In order to help us keep track of our goals and progress, I've set up a budget in Microsoft Money (which we already had!) We've used this with great success previously, only falling behind when DD was little, and we couldn't find the time to keep it updated. Hopefully it will work just as well for us this time!

Overflowing

On Friday, we had over 18mm of rain in about 24 hours! Our tanks, which were already pretty full from the weeks of rain in early summer, were simply overflowing. This one, which fills from our house roof (about 115sqm), apparently doesn't have a big enough overflow outlet! It was simply gushing out the inlet, and I ended up going down and pulling the cap off the pipe so that it would flow out into the street drain rather than overflowing here near the house. At least the pipes will have had a good flushing out!

We ran entirely off our stainless steel tank last summer and most of winter (you can see it in the background), and managed to use no town water, though the levels did get mighty low once or twice. So far though, with the two tanks, we have had so much water we don't know what to do with it!

Still, conserving water is so ingrained in us now, that even when we have plenty, we use very little. Our washing machine and dishwasher use only minimal water (washing machine about 50l a load, dishwasher about 11), we have water saving shower heads, and are careful every time we turn a tap on. It all pays off though, and hopefully we will have plenty of water to see us through the winter (which typically has less rain here), without any worries.

Restoring Old Toys

When DD was first born, we bought SO MANY toys for her, all new. I shudder to think of how much we spent on toys that probably only lasted a year or two at most. (To my credit, most were either sold or donated to charity then, not thrown out.) My sister has a far more sensible attitude, and gets a lot more for her $50 at the second hand stores or garage sales than we ever got at the toystore!

These days, we buy a few select, high quality toys new, and mostly either make them at home, or buy second hand. While there are many second hand toys that are like new, or even gain appeal through being loved, many just aren't as 'pretty' as those you can buy new. And I don't believe in kids getting 'second best'. Though DD will happily play with her second hand toys, I often like to spruce them up a bit for her.

Here is the toy ironing board we bought for a couple of dollars somewhere. A new cover, and a second hand wooden iron from the markets, and it's a toy worth of any child's playroom. (Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them so you can have a good look if you want.)

This pram, likewise, was a dollar or two at a second hand store. I believe they're $7 or so new at bargain stores, which is probably where this one was originally from. With a new cover, it looks far prettier than the original one would have looked the day it came home from the store. I took off the old cover and used it to make a pattern for this new one. DD and I gave the pram a good scrubbing. The new cover took less than an hour to sew up (mostly due to me trying to 'improve' over the original design, when will I learn), and used the buckle from the original cover, but otherwise all new material (less than half a metre of $5 a metre material).

I enjoy this so much more than just going out and buying new, which always leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth.

These toys will also be a great addition to DD's 'home corner' once I get to it.

We're Rich!

No, we haven't won the lotto, or found some hidden pirate treasure. In fact, we have exactly the same amount of money that we had yesterday. It's just that I stopped, for a moment, thinking of all the things we can't afford, and realised what we can.

We have the money to pay for DD's unexpected dental costs without a struggle.

We have enough to buy food, petrol and other necessities without having to count pennies.

We have enough for luxury items, like a nice TV, nice furniture, and new items to replace those that break.

We have enough to buy nice material for clothes.

We have enough to spend the odd $100 at Spotlight on purely decorator items, without feeling (too) guilty.

We have more than enough to buy most things we want, comfortably, and most importantly, without going into debt. (Though we're still paying off the debt from the days before we realised this, nearly there now.) Sure, there are things we would like that we can't afford. But show me a person, no matter how well off they are, that doesn't? (OK, maybe Bill Gates doesn't have to consider the bank balance, but otherwise...) Yes, the cost of the 'wants but can't affords' goes up, but they are still there, no matter how much money you make.

The trick is to realise when you have 'enough', and be happy with it.

Homeschool Reading Corner

I posted a few days ago (OK, I admit, more like a few weeks ago) about some reorganising going on here. Well, it's still going on, and most of it is too messy to post pictures yet, but some bits are finally emerging in working order. The main reorganisation is in the living room, but it's spilling over into DD's play/school room as well. Given that we're starting the new school year here, I figured an overhaul was in order. We did a big clean up/organise a few months ago, but in typical me fashion, I've decided to change it all around to break the room up into 'corners' (those who've been in a preschool room will probably recognise the tactic), each with a different purpose. This is the new 'Reading Corner', complete with books, and some comfy cushions to rest on while reading.

There will be more cushions, but it's time consuming to make them since I can't do anything in a simple fashion. I could have just sewn two squares of material together, and all four would be done, but no, I had to get fancy. I do think they look rather nice though, and DD loves them. She carries them around the house wherever she goes. Lucky I'm making more...

Op-Shop Bargains and another Nothing New Month

I've been re-visiting a lot of the local op-shops (thrift stores for those in the US) lately, and found some real bargains. Like the cushion inserts above, at $3 each. Sure, I've seen cushion inserts in stores for $3 each, but not this size, these are about 20 inches square. Perfect for DD's reading corner. The white object folded up on the bottom is actually a thin, cotton quilt, in perfect condition, it was $7. The folded up flannel sheets were $1.50 each because they had slight marks/not in top condition, which is not going to matter once I cut them up for hankies!

Then in another op-shop (where I went to buy zippers for covers for the new cushions, which incidentally I found for 20 cents each), I found these shirts on the $1 rack. Perfect for cutting up to make some smaller shirts for DD.

I love finding bargains at the op-shops. It feels so good to not only get something cheaply, but to know that I'm recycling in the real meaning of the word. These objects, which would otherwise be thrown out, are being used again. And when I'm finished with them, they'll be passed back to be used again. We waste so much in our world, it feels good to stop even a little of that.

However, despite finding bargains and some great deals, I think I've been going a bit overboard on the buying. Things are piling up, and we need some more cleaning and organising going on here. I have more material than I have time to sew, and more things than I have places to put them. So DH and I have decided to have another Nothing New month this month. Yes, I know we're already into February, and to make it neat I should wait until March, but when the mood hits you, it's best to start while you're motivated.

The exceptions to the Nothing New will be a particular set of bookshelves, or a particular couch, if they come up second hand this month.

Sugar Cane

I've been trying to get hold of some sugar canes for growing for a while, but most of the online places won't ship to Queensland (because of quarantine I would assume, since a lot of sugar cane is grown here), so I haven't had much luck. That's why I was quite excited when I saw some at the markets on Sunday. They had normal canes, I assume for people to try, and some canes with leaves still on them for growing. I bought 4, and at 50c each, I thought they were quite a bargain!

Unfortunately, with the dentist appointment this week, we haven't had a chance to plant it, and it only went into the ground this afternoon. I don't know much about planting it, but the advice from my mum coincided with what I could find online, so I cut it into lengths, and put it in the ground on it's side.

Apparently, the new growth comes from these little buds on the side. Hopefully it will grow, and if not, I only lost $2.

One recommendation though, if you're going to try this, make sure you wear gloves. I didn't initially, and ended up with lots of very fine, very small, very painful hairs stuck into my hand. Ouch.

A Long Day

DD had her dental appointment early this morning, and it has been a very long day for us all. She was a little trouper though, and handled it all so well, even though she hasn't felt too good. I'm very proud of her.

I took my knitting with me, but didn't get anything done in the waiting room, I just couldn't concentrate. I've been knitting on and off during the afternoon while DH and DD have been reading or playing computer games. I'm pleased with how quickly this is knitting up, but not quite ready to reveal what it is yet. Will post pictures when it's finished if it turns out the way I want.

Junk Mail and Wardrobe Planning

You may be wondering what I'm doing posting about these two topics together on a blog that is supposedly about simple living. I mean, isn't the aim to buy less and make your own rather than getting drawn into all the advertising and sales?

Well, of course it is. And the truth is, I can't see me buying children's clothes (or adults clothes for the most part) in stores again. But I do like to look through the catalogues to be inspired and come up with ideas for what I can make at home. Most of the pretty outfits you see in the catalogues are just variations on a basic pattern. They might add a few frills in different places, some embroidery, or use a particular material, but there is very little in the stores that can't easily be replicated by the home dressmaker.

So each week when the catalogues come in (and I really should get a "No Junk Mail" sign for the letterbox and just check them out online), I look through them, and if there is anything that I like the look of, I cut it out, and stick it into my inspiration scrapbook. I noticed this week that we've moved away from the summer clothes, and into the autumn/winter stuff. Probably a good reminder that I need to get onto planning DD's wardrobe. Making it yourself takes a little more time, but it is SO satisfying to dress DD each day, and know that I made nearly everything she's wearing! Hopefully, this winter, her entire wardrobe will be homemade!

Oh the Irony

I was filling up the car with petrol the other day, something I very rarely do (I usually get DH to do it), and as I watched the haze around the nozzle as the tank filled, I thought how ironic it was. I go to great lengths not to bring excess plastic into the house, not to use plastic grocery bags, to buy 100% cotton as much as possible, yet here I am filling my car with petrol, simply to burn it all up.

Unavoidable at this stage, but it does make you think.

Sorry for the absences lately, we haven't been doing much to write about, the camera batteries have been dead, and all in all it's been a hectic time. Next week will probably be similar, as DD has a dentist appointment to have some fillings done under a GA, but after that hopefully posts will become more regular again.

Artificial Sweeteners

As part of my aim to get DD out of the house and socialising more with kids her own age, we've been attending a local playgroup for the last couple of weeks. Today was one of the kids 4th birthday, and of course there was cake and lemonade. Pretty normal for a preschoolers birthday celebration. I was casually watching the preparations, absently reading the label on the lemonade bottle. "No artificial colours or preservatives", oh good I though. Next line, "No sugar". The warning lights went on, and I came over to ask, "Does this have artificial sweeteners in it?" The mum looked at me in confusion. "I don't know?"

I checked the label, and sure enough, it listed artificial sweeteners. DD had water. I bought her a can of real lemonade, with real sugar, on the way home.

I would like to say that it amazes me that people don't even question what is in their food, but I only have to look back five or so years to know that I was like that. Luckily, I've never eaten any of those 'diet' foods simply because I don't like the artificial taste, but otherwise, I was just as ignorant as that mum.

I first researched the dangers of artificial sweeteners when I was pregnant with DD. I have no recollection why at this stage, since as I said, I've never eaten them, but something sent me searching. And let me tell you, most of what I found wasn't pretty. Nearly every artificial sweetener on the market is associated with cancer in some form. Laboratory tests of all of them have shown the formation of cancer in rats at far above normal rates, but yet, recommendations to have them banned have been overruled, and they have been allowed to continue to be used, often in food marketed at children!

Perhaps the dangers of artificial sweeteners can be summed up by the first artificial sweetener, used by the Ancient Romans, Sugar of Lead. I don't think I even need to explain what the side effects of that one were.

Ironically, most of them have not, in fact, been shown to help people lose weight! It is hypothesised that the sweet taste, without the calories, actually causes the body to demand more sweet food, thus leading to more eating. The latest research from the University of Texas has confirmed that artificial sweeteners are not helping people to lose weight, in fact, they are still gaining.

I could go on for hours about this one, and if you do a quick search on artificial sweeteners, you'll find plenty more information, especially about the worst culprit, aspartame, which is believed to cause brain tumours.

Please, read up on this topic before eating artificial sweeteners in any form, especially if you have children or are pregnant.

Sleep Deficit

Regular readers will have noticed the complete lack of posts for the last week or two. Truth is, both DH and I are more than a little behind on our sleep, and circumstances keep conspiring to make sure we don't catch up. The one hour each way commute to the city for DH's work means we have to leave the house at 6:30am to get him to the train station on time, and he isn't home until after 5pm. Give a couple of hours for playing, dinner etc, and it's nearly 8pm by the time DD is in bed, giving DH and I very little time to relax and unwind before we should be in bed ourselves. In order to catch up on some sleep, we really need to be in bed by 9pm, but somehow that seems impossible (as you will note from the 9:30 time on this post). We've tried not even turning the computers on, but then we sit and talk for an hour! All good stuff, but not helping with the sleep, thus making the extra time for blog posts right now just isn't happening. Hopefully we'll catch up a little soon (or give up trying!), and I'll have some more time for posting.

Still around...

Yes, I've been quiet. DH has had a week off, and we've been busy doing some reorganising around here. It's not quite ready to display to the world yet, but expect some reorganising posts in a few days...

Keeping on Mending

Some of my regular readers (and I do have regular readers, including 5 followers, Yay!) might remember this sheet from a previous repair post. I've been washing a lot of things on hot to be sure to keep the chicken's mites out of the house, and unfortunately the hot water (my machine does a 90 degree hot wash) has killed the elastic in the fitted sheet. Last time it was on the bed, it just kept coming off at the corners, very annoying.

I thought at first that the elastic had just snapped somewhere, but when I unpicked the seam at one corner, it was obvious it was just destroyed. So I cut the elastic, and pulled the whole lot out. (I could have left it in, but I'm a bit of a perfectionist.)

The fastest way to unpick the seams is to use this handy little tool. It's called a quick unpick, and is invaluable to the sewing enthusiast. No matter how good you get at sewing, there will always be times when you just have to unpick something. Like when you sew the arm of a t-shirt onto the neck opening. (Not that I would do something like that...) And also handy in this case, where you want to undo the stitching to change the elastic. (Handy hint, you can do this for skirts and pants that have become to tight but otherwise still fit, so long as the elastic isn't sewn in.)

Once I'd unpicked that spot, I cut the elastic, and pulled the whole lot out, a very slow and tedious process.

Then I had to replace it with some good elastic. I didn't happen to have a piece long enough, so I pulled out 3 2m bits, and sewed them together with a zig zag stitch like this.

I forgot to take photos of putting the new elastic in unfortunately, but basically you attach a safety pin to the end of the elastic, and use that to thread it through the casing. I found that all the way around a queen sized sheet was a LONG way, so I ended up unpicking the opposite corner too, and threading through from the opposite end as well.

Because of the long length, it's quite hard to get the elastic through evenly, so I simply pulled it as tight as I could, fastened it with the safety pin, and put the sheet on. Each time I'm making the bed, I check it, and often tighten it a little. When it's time to change the sheets again, I'll sew the ends of the elastic together, and close up the opening.

Some people might thing that this is a pointless waste of time, and it's much easier to just go out and buy a new set of sheets. But the reality is that the sheets are still good (and my favourite set), and they have plenty of wear left in them yet. The top sheet and pillow cases are still find, and the fitted sheet is still in reasonable condition. So for about 20 minutes work, I just saved about $100 (I refuse to buy cheap sheets, hate them), and at least half an hour's time had I needed to go buy a new set! Not to mention the damage to the environment to grow the cotton, process it into material, make the sheets, and ship them back and forth. It just makes sense to repair things where you can.

From the Garden

Tonight's Dinner

Despite the lack of care in the last few months, the garden is still quietly producing away. I ducked out to pick these to add to tonight's dinner. The pumpkin is self sowed up near the fruit trees, the corn has been looking after itself since it was planted (probably not going to get much out of it, but looks like we should get at least a little), and the zucchini plants are taking over the front garden (along with the watermelons and more self-sowed pumpkins).

I'm trying to develop a liking for zucchini, but so far it's not going well. They don't taste exactly bad, but I can't find anything to actually like about them yet, so I'm making do with hiding them under other vegies (mashed potato works well) or in other things, like the delicious pasta sauce below. Because no matter how bland they taste, there is one thing I can say about zucchini's, they sure are easy to grow in large numbers!

This is the pasta sauce I made yesterday completely from our home grown tomatoes. Actually, this is the leftover sauce that I put into the freezer after using the rest of it to cook up enough mince and sauce to do 3 meals, plus leftovers! Tomatoes, like zucchini's, are something we can easily grow plenty of. In fact, I really must go out and pick the next lot to add to the freezer tomorrow morning!

This afternoon I went out and picked a bunch of cow peas. I planted these on the side of the chook run back in the beginning of summer, and have looked at them drying the last few weeks, wondering if they were edible (I bought them mainly for the chooks), and after a bit of research today, it seems like they are. I picked all these in only a few minutes, and there are probably about this many again on the vines.

Shelling them left me with quite a bowl full of dried cow peas (which I'm pretty sure are actually a bean, not a pea!) Not sure exactly what I'll do with them yet, probably add them to a soup, stew or mince dish, but it's kind of cool to have all these when I hadn't really expected it. They are quite prolific (I only planted about 20 or so plants), way more so than other types of beans, and on top of that they are doing a great job shading my chook pen!

I miss it already!

I took my overlocker in to be repaired this morning, and I'm already feeling the lack. The notes on the last repair were "needle guides out of alignment" apparently. Sounds relatively easy to fix, but apparently they are snowed under right now, so I could be waiting a while.

I'm finding myself quite lost without it. I've been sewing so much in the last 6 months that it's become quite a habit. I find that making something, creating something, is very soothing and relaxing, and really helps me get back into the right frame of mind when I'm having one of those days.

Of course, I still have my sewing machine, and from reading all the sewing blogs I read, very few people use their overlockers as extensively as I use mine. In fact, I don't think I've seen one mentioned on a tutorial/sewing blog at all! (For any US readers, I believe an overlocker is the same as a serger?) However, ever since my grandmother gave me her old industrial overlocker nearly 15 years ago, I've loved them. To be able to cut, sew and finish edges all in one go is just perfect, and really helps keep things neat and tidy.

Of course, you can technically sew without an overlocker. There is nothing an overlocker does that you cannot replicate in some way on a sewing machine. It's just the the overlocker does it so much more efficiently and more neatly than a sewing machine. The reverse however is not true. There are some things that can only be done on a sewing machine, like taking up hems, sewing on binding or lace, or quilting. So if I had to pick one or the other, I'd go for the sewing machine, but since I have both, I'm strangely loath to start a new project until my baby is home again.

Almost, but not quite. I've found that I can sew nappies quite easily on just the sewing machine (although the thought that I could do them more neatly if only my overlocker were here pops up now and then), and since my sister has asked me to make some for her new baby (she's going to try cloth, Yay!), and so I guess that will have to do for my sewing fix until the overlocker is back. The first trial nappy was totally the wrong shape for her baby though, so I'm going to have to keep experimenting till I find something that works.

They're back...

The mites that is. Thought we had licked them, but apparently we gave up too early. We're again scratching every time we go near the chicken pen, and tomorrow we'll be waging war on the tiny itchies yet again. This is a photo from last time, when we bathed the chickens in tea tree oil. Don't they look miserable? We probably won't bother with that again this time, as it was a lot of effort for not much reward. Dusting with sulphur, both the chickens themselves, and their nesting boxes and sleeping areas, is far more effective. Even more effective when you dust, then hose down the whole pen, letting wet sulphur get into all the nooks and crannies. And apparently you need to keep it up for a few weeks after you think they're all gone, to get the next lot of eggs that hatch out.

Look out mites, you're days are numbered!

New Shirts

I've been sewing away at the t-shirts I'm making for DD, and am down to the last two. In fact, when I finish this post, I'll probably go and try to get them finished, leaving way for the next sewing project. She's been wearing them as fast as I'm sewing them, meaning it's hard to get a photo, but I'll try to add some to this post before I post it.

Out of 3 metres of fabric, I've made about 7 t-shirts, the entire lot costing me less than $20. There is plenty of material left over, just no pieces big enough for the front of the shirts. I will probably make some skirts as well or perhaps some pants.

I deliberately bought 3 co-ordinating colours so that I could mix and match, and ended up with some interesting colour combinations at the end, some deliberate, some just the material I had left. Each shirt I made is different in some way, perhaps a different colour binding, or different coloured sleeves/back. Only problem I've found is that because most of them are patterns, it's harder to match them with DD's patterned skirts.

There was a time not so long ago when you could by clothes for cheaper than you could make them, but it seems that is passing. I wonder if it's the material getting cheaper, or the clothes getting more expensive? Or perhaps it's just that I'm sewing for a smaller person now! It can't only be that though, because I'm finding it cheaper to make clothes for myself too, so long as I stick to the simpler patterns, which is really what I prefer anyway.

I've taken to cutting up the junk mail catalogues as they come in, picking out the clothing pictures I once would have gone out to buy, and sticking them into a scrapbook for inspiration when sewing. Nearly every picture I see is a relatively simple alteration on a basic pattern, so are easily reproducible without much added expense. Now that we've solved the immediate lack of t-shirt issue, hopefully I'll have time for some pretty and frilly additions!

Edited to add: Not any time soon though, overlocked is broken again! I had the same problem a few weeks after I bought it, so I'm not happy that it's happened again. Back to the repair shop yet again!

New Routines

Well, after feeling inspired by my own post last night, we got out this morning and tackled about half the mowing (with FIL's help), planted out those three trees that desperately needed it (another Valencia orange, navel orange, and pink lady apple to add to my collection), and cleaned out the chook run. Unfortunately the mites are back again, just when we thought we had them beat. Have to be more vigilant this time. I also bought a few kg's of apricots at the markets this morning for $3.50 a kilo, and they're drying in the dehydrator as we speak.

While all these things are good to get done, we're also busy working on making sure our lives are more organised to achieve things on a regular basis, not just in fits and starts like so often happens. I've been a fan of Flylady's methods since I first discovered her website several years ago, and have gone through stages of 'Flying' with her on and off. I don't have time right now for the e-mail lists, but I do think that her methods can, and have, worked well for our family. So yesterday I wrote up a new morning and evening routine. I've had routines for quite a while, but unfortunately they grew so much that I was too daunted to start them! And routines can't really help you if you don't do them! So DH and I wrote up some new ones together, limiting ourselves to three things in the morning, and three things in the evening. We could, of course, have put down many more things, but really wanted to stick to the essentials, and not overwhelm ourselves.

Morning Routine:

• Unload Dishwasher
• Make Beds
• 5 minute hotspot* rescue

*hotspots are those places where clutter builds up, in our case the computer table, the kitchen bench, around the TV etc.

Evening Routine:

• Load Dishwasher
• Take out Compost
• 5 minute room rescue on Lounge room

I'm pleased to report that even after only doing these routines for 2 days, we can see the difference. You might think that doing three such small things would be a drop in the ocean, but it's surprising how much of a difference it makes. No doubt in time we'll add to these routines, but for now we're just going to practice these until they're automatic.

New Year, New Enthusiasm.

Regular readers may have noticed that this blog has been rather quiet through November/December. In part, this was due to the fact that these have been very busy months for our family. November was taken up with writing, December with frantic Christmas preparations. On top of that, the weather has been hot, hot and more hot, with lots of rain thrown into the mix. Very little chance for gardening, for even if we braved the heat to plant, what is going to grow in this weather? (Other than the watermelons, which are doing great!)

And now, here we are in 2009, wondering what we are going to do this year. Well, we are hoping for some lifestyle changes, mainly in the form of a new job for DH. Closer to home would be great, but is unlikely due to the lack of jobs in his field nearby. Mainly though, we are hoping for some more regular hours, less stress, and hopefully a bit more flexibility.

DH and I have been talking too, and are looking at ways to further reduce our expenses on the basis that saving $100 is worth more than making an extra $100. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, think on it. For starters, of the $100 extra you make, a large percentage is immediately gone in tax. Not to mention the GST you're not paying simply by not buying something.

With this in mind, it will be back to making, mending and growing this year. I'm itching for the weather to cool down enough to plant something, but think I'll realistically have to wait until mid February at least. In the meantime though, there are some fruit trees that still need to be planted out (from before November!), mowing to do, fruit trees to mulch etc etc, so plenty to keep me busy. On the sewing front, I'm finally getting around to finishing those t-shirts for DD, making more shopping bags (and I've just had the brainwave to recycle my old green bags, which are more than a little the worse for wear, into stiffening in various projects), some swimming togs for DD (from second hand swimming tops), and no doubt many other things. I need to get back into preserving, before all this wonderful summer fruit is done for the year, including cooking up all the tomatoes that are languishing in my freezer (cooked up one lot last night though, and they were delish!). I need to cook more from scratch, and start figuring out how to use all this garden produce. I also have lots and lots of wool that needs to be spun ready for the winter knitting frenzy.

On the financial front, hopefully we'll have more no-spend months, do some budgeting maybe, and hopefully, 2009 will be the year that we pay off the credit card for good. We've paid it off before, but it is only this time, through dint of paying it off bit by bit the slow hard way, that we have actually changed our spending habits enough to know we are not going to run it straight back up again. Then we can work on saving, and beginning paying extra on the home loan. Exciting stuff.

I also need to get working on organising the house, decluttering, making curtains for the windows, rugs for the floors, that sort of thing.

And last, but not least, I have to get a plan in place for DD's first official year of homeschooling. She is due to start prep this year, which is not compulsory in Queensland, so we will be running our own program (at this stage), including lots of getting out and joining groups, excursions, and other fun stuff.

So stay tuned for a hopefully action packed 2009!